The XL Food beef recall has a lot of people worried about the meat in their fridges, freezer & on their tables. It's also prompting advocates of the "Buy Local" campaign to highlight the bonuses of buying food grown and raised in our communities. Which is great!

I buy local, quite often. I make my a lot of my own condiments out of local foods; bake and freeze things for my husband's lunches; visit Farmers' Markets; have two meat birds from a local farmer in my freezer right now; buy jewellery from a friend who makes it by hand; use homemade knitted dish cloths, etc. But, I also go to the grocery store every week that doesn't sell strictly local products; have a Costco membership and  shop at other big box stores. Mixing buying local and buying what's convenient and, generally up-front cheaper, is what works for my family. It’s an informed choice we’ve made, as a family.

But, since the beef recalls began, I've been seeing A LOT of negativity directed towards people for where they shop. And, it irritates me. SOME people are getting very personal, and trying to make people feel like they're failures as parents and members of the community because they like to go to chain-stores that import food and goods. I've seen comments on social media sites implying people deserve to get sick if they're going to continue to buy food that's not local; or, that people don’t care about their families because they don’t buy local.

Buy local, be proud of it, heck, encourage others to do it because it keeps local producers in business, and with food, it generally tastes SO much better. I am all for trying to get more people on board with the "Buy Local" campaign. But, to those FEW who've been throwing harmful words at people, is it really necessary to put people down who don't buy local? And, is being nasty REALLY helping the cause?

People have opinions, and we live in a country where we can freely express them, and in this digital age, it's even easier to do that than ever before. But maybe some of us need to check the attitude at the door.

Remember, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.